Woman has helped shepherd Tiller Days through decades of change

Cherrill Cady has volunteered at Tustin Tiller Days for 34 years. She'll be there this year also as the three-day festival runs Friday to Sunday. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cherrill Cady looks through some of the scrapbooks she has made from the Tustin Tiller Days. She has been a volunteer at the event for 34 years. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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One year, in about 1985, Mothers Against Drunk Driving sponsored a car that visitors could hit with a sledgehammer at the Tustin Tiller Days. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cherrill Cady was honored in 2008, after volunteering for 30 years, for her work with the Tustin Tiller Days. This year marks her 34th year with the event, which returns this year Friday to Sunday. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Marines helped with the rides at the Tustin Tiller Days before the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin closed in 1999. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cherrill Cady was hit with silly string by her staff during the Tustin Tiller Days. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Tustin Tiller Days will bring back the pie-eating contest this year; the one pictured was in the late 1980s. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cherrill Cady's mother, Marilyn Vallance, helped her daughter with the Tustin Tiller Days in the 1980s. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

She's organized a Wild West shootout, the smashing of a car using sledgehammers, a skydiver and a silly-string fight.

In Cherrill Cady's 34 years as a Tustin Tiller Days volunteer, she's helped grow the festival from a one-day to a three-day celebration.

This year, 65,000 people are expected to attend from Friday to Sunday.

"Every year it's gotten bigger and better," Cady said.

Cady first helped plan Tiller Days in 1978, when it was little more than 10 booths and a dunk tank in Peppertree Park.

As the fair grew, it moved to Columbus Tustin Park at 14712 Prospect Ave. for more space and night lighting.

"There's a lot of history in Tiller Days and the people who come to it and the memories they have," Cady said.

Cady's family has strong ties to Tiller Days. Husband Tom Cady drives in the parade and pumps beer at the Lion's Club booth each year.

Cady's son Todd Webb, now a teacher at Nelson Elementary, marched in the parade with a kazoo band in the mid-1980s. These days, he drives the celebrities down the parade route.

Daughter Kim Bass will interview the Tiny Tillers at the community stage on at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Grandson C.J. Bass will help place signs on the parade cars starting at 5 a.m. Saturday. Even granddaughter Jayden Bass, 10, helps out.

Most of those who know Cady have been roped into volunteering somehow, including Tiller Days chairwoman Amy Nakamoto and parade chairwoman Judy Barr.

Barr joined the volunteer staff about eight years ago; she finds celebrities to ride in the parade. This year, her company, Barr Homes Real Estate, is sponsoring the parade. Barr's husband, Chris, is sponsoring an award for a Tustin high school marching band in the parade.

Tustin Tiller Days has a few new aspects this year. The pancake breakfast, held by the Tustin Chamber of Commerce, goes from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday in its new space at Peppertree Park, 230 W. First St.

A pie-eating contest will happen at 8:15 p.m. on Friday and a frozen T-shirt contest at 5:50 p.m. Saturday. Contestants will try to unfold a frozen T-shirt and put it on. Children can try blowing the biggest bubble with gum at 2:35 p.m. Sunday and adults can test their strength with pumpkin holding at 4:50 p.m. Sunday.

About 110 groups will march in the parade, which begins at 10 a.m. at Main and Yorba streets, and travels north on Prospect Avenue to Columbus Tustin Park. Mickey Mouse is the grand marshal.

"It's become so different now," Cady said. "It's so big an individual really can't do it like I did."

In addition to about 21 committee members working on the festival and parade, hundreds of volunteers come together to make Tiller Days run smoothly.

Nonprofit groups sell food and drinks, Girl Scouts clean tables, Tustin Cobras football players break down the tables and chairs, and hundreds of others help out over the three days.

"The best part is working with volunteers who enjoy bringing quality events to their own neighborhood," said Christine Zepeda, recreation supervisor with the city of Tustin. "Tiller Days unites a community and makes a difference in how we all get along."

Before the Tustin Marine base closed in 1999, the Marines volunteered to run the rides for the children. This year, the city has contracted with Huntington Beach-based Shamrock Shows for the carnival.

"I like watching it come together," Cady said. "It starts out with absolutely nothing and it builds."

Residents can buy $20 wristbands until 5 p.m. Thursday at the Parks and Recreation office, 300 Centennial Way in Tustin. Two dollars from every wristband will be donated to a school of the buyer's choice or to the Tustin Public Schools Foundation.

"Once you get into it and it gets in your blood it's hard to go away. It becomes your baby," Cady said.

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